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Africa is the New World at the Mu Gallery

AFRICA the old, AFRICA the beautiful and AFRICA the new!

Recits d’Afrique is an inspirational exhibition on african art and culture at the Mu Gallery this January 4-29.

You will see the original painting of Wole Lagunju, an artist from Nigeria, based in the United States, photos by Lea Lund & de Erik K., and masks and thrones of Gonçalo Mabunda, selected at the last Venice Biennale.

A special tribute will be given to bronzes from Burkina Faso. There will also be sculptures in wood from A. Zigani and other traditional and contemporary african decorative objects.

Mu Gallery – 53 rue Blanche in the 9th Open from 12pm-7pm, January 4 to 29

Wole Lagunju

Wole Lagunju’s painting can be read as a tribute to women and femininity. He places his subjects in a hybrid space, combining the presence of Yoruba masks (Traditional from West Africa, from where the painter originates) alongside the Dutch Golden Age and the Elizabethan era, and modern fashion and culture.

Wole Langunju seizes the dynamism, richness and relevance of a Yoruba threatened by both religious fundamentalisms and the fallout from globalization, and proposes a redefinition of the Gelede mask. Not as a Traditional frozen object but as a constant object evolving in a dialogue with contemporary reality.

Lea Lund & Erik K

Mixing genres effortlessly, Lea Lund and Erik K break traditional codes to capture the essence of journalism, portraiture, fashion photography, and architecture. Their somewhat raw and manual style has, over time, become their unmistakable signature. Using a black-and-white treatment that appears as though it has been sculpted with a scalpel, they create striking visuals. While the concept of the artist and their muse is widely recognized—think of Kiki Montparnasse, Frida and Diego, or Lee Miller and Man Ray—this duo reinvents it. Here, Erik K takes the role of the muse, embodying the belhomme or dandy, while Lea Lund assumes the position of the photographer, capturing his essence.

Lea Lund was born in Lausanne. She graduated in 1986 from ECAL and has since 1990 lived between Lausanne and Paris. As a visual artist, she has always devoted a part of her art to photography, with a particular interest in portraits and architecture. Her creativity has always been intimately linked to her life. Her meeting Erik K. in July 2011, is at the origin of an obsessional photographic and endless series of which Erik K. is the only subject.

Erik K was born in Lubumbashi, Zaire, and has lived in Switzerland since 1998. His elegance is entirely part of his personality. He’s a dandy and very early on in his life, created his style. His amazing hats are of his own design and have become a distinct part of who he is. His meeting with Lea Lund has lead him to discover a passion for engraving, to which he devotes a large part of his time.

Gonçalo Mabunda

Born in 1975 in Maputo, Mozambique, where he lives, Gonçalo Mabunda, works on his memory of his country. A country that came out of a long and terrible civil war in 1992 and had started in the mid-seventies. His childhood was punctuated by the violence and the absurdity of this war.

To listen to him speak, one might think Mabunda owes his career entirely to chance. After failing to re-enroll in high school, he found work at 17 as a courier for the Nucleo of Arte, a cooperative of artists that remains the heart of Maputo’s artistic scene. During his free time, he visited the workshops, eager to observe the creative processes. Gradually, he was handed brushes and frames, allowing him to experiment. Eventually, South African sculptor Andries Botha needed an assistant, offering Mabunda a transformative opportunity. In Durban, over three months, Botha taught him metal and bronze techniques, helping him perfect his welding skills.

Upon his return to Mozambique, he began his work of transforming arms into art under a the support of a Mozambican Christian organization. ” The board had collected weapons since the end of the civil war in 1992 to destroy them. They challenged a few artists, including myself, to use them in our creations” he explains. But while the others were eager to reproduce the animals of the savanna, he sees great. He revisits traditional African craftsmanship and his masks become grandiose.